When American men answered the call of civilization



Eighty-one years have passed since American troops landed at Normandy — an event that changed the course of history and helped bring down the Nazi regime. Yet the 80th anniversary came and went last year with barely a murmur of national recognition.

That silence speaks volumes.

The most enduring lessons come not from strategy but from the men who waded ashore, knowing they might not live through the morning. Why did they do it?

Deep divisions have clouded American political life, but failing to commemorate the most significant amphibious invasion in history marks more than forgetfulness. It reflects a broader unease with our own history and the sacrifices that secured our liberty.

The Trump administration has begun to reverse that drift, reviving public recognition of the past in ways absent during the Biden years. Critics have seized on moments like President Trump’s recent remarks at West Point, where he appeared to downplay Allied contributions. Those contributions must never be forgotten. But the American role in defeating Nazi Germany — and especially in the brutal and heroic assault on Fortress Europe — cannot be overstated.

No day better symbolizes that effort than June 6, 1944.

The beginning of the end

D-Day ranks with Gettysburg, Meuse-Argonne, and Iwo Jima in the American martial canon. Its outcome was anything but assured.

Operation Neptune — the seaborne phase of Operation Overlord — followed months of planning that began in late 1943 after Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin conferred in Tehran. Stalin had pushed hard for a second front to relieve Soviet pressure. Churchill preferred a Mediterranean approach. But the Americans insisted on France. We won the argument.

Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower became supreme commander. British Gen. Bernard Montgomery was named ground commander. The invasion would take place in late spring.

Three major conditions needed to be met before Neptune could launch.

First, the Germans had to be pinned down in the east. Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 had already opened a two-front war that Germany could not sustain. Despite massive Soviet losses, the Red Army had recovered. The Wehrmacht had not. It was arguably Hitler’s greatest blunder.

Second, the Allies needed air superiority. Through strategic bombing and air-to-air combat, the U.S. and Britain weakened the Luftwaffe, hitting factories, airfields, and supply depots. By June 1944, Allied fighters controlled the skies over France.

Third, the Mediterranean had to be secure. Campaigns in North Africa and Italy tied down German forces and freed up Allied naval resources for the invasion of Northern France.

With those conditions met, the Allies selected Normandy as the landing site. Pas-de-Calais was closer to Germany and easier to resupply but far more heavily fortified by the Nazis. Normandy offered a more realistic point of attack — provided the Germans could be fooled.

Deception and preparation

Operation Fortitude aimed to do just that. Allied intelligence fed Germany a steady diet of false information. Fake radio traffic, dummy landing craft, and bogus army units — including a fictitious command under Lt. Gen. George Patton — convinced Hitler that Calais would be the invasion point.

The ruse worked. German commanders remained fixated on Calais long after troops began pouring ashore at Normandy.

Military theorists had long understood how war resists prediction. “Everything in war is simple,” Carl von Clausewitz observed, “but the simplest thing is difficult.” Clausewitz’s “friction” and Helmuth von Moltke’s warning that “no plan of operation extends with any certainty beyond first contact with the main hostile force” applied in full. Amphibious landings, by their nature, magnify every point of failure.

The plan called for landings on five beaches, with three airborne divisions deployed inland. U.S. forces hit Utah and Omaha. British and Canadian forces landed at Gold, Juno, and Sword. Airborne units dropped behind German lines to disrupt reinforcements.

The moon and tide had to align. Weather delayed the launch from June 5 to June 6. That delay caught the Germans off guard. General Erwin Rommel had left France to celebrate his wife’s birthday. Other commanders were away conducting war games.

The landings begin

Allied bombers struck German positions after midnight, followed by naval bombardment. Many shells landed behind the defenses, missing their targets. That failure would prove costly.

British forces advanced steadily, although only the Canadians reached their assigned D-Day objectives. Montgomery had hoped to seize Caen that day. British troops would not take the city for weeks.

The 4th Infantry Division at Utah Beach caught a break, landing in the wrong spot due to strong currents. But the division met light resistance and advanced quickly. The 2nd Ranger Battalion scaled Pointe du Hoc and took heavy losses but completed its mission.

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Photo courtesy of Walt Larimore

Omaha was a bloodbath. German defenses remained largely intact, and U.S. troops were cut down on the sand. Casualties reached 2,400 — the highest of any landing. Despite the carnage, immortalized in “Saving Private Ryan,” small units clawed their way inland, broke through the defenses, and held the beachhead.

By nightfall, the Allies had established a tenuous grip on Normandy. U.S. forces pushed toward the port of Cherbourg. British units hammered away at Caen. American troops slogged through the bocage.

On July 25, U.S. forces broke out at Saint-Lo. By August, the Allies had encircled 50,000 German troops in the Falaise pocket. By the end of August, Paris was liberated. Operation Overlord had succeeded.

What D-Day means now

The victory in Normandy depended on strategy, deception, adaptation, and above all, human will. The Allies fought as partners — ideologically divided but functionally united. The Axis powers, despite ideological similarities, failed to coordinate effectively.

Every war plan eventually collapses. Things go wrong. What matters is how commanders and soldiers respond to chaos. D-Day demanded that kind of adaptation under fire. Clausewitz understood this. So did the men who stormed the beaches.

The most enduring lessons come not from strategy but from the men who waded ashore, knowing they might not live through the morning. Why did they do it?

J. Glenn Gray, in “The Warriors: Reflections on Men in Battle,” offers one answer:

Numberless soldiers have died, more or less willingly, not for country or honor or religious faith or for any other abstract good, but because they realized that by fleeing their posts and rescuing themselves, they would expose their companions to greater danger. Such loyalty to the group is the essence of fighting morale.

These soldiers protected more than one another. They preserved the American republic. They fought against an ideology bent on erasing it.

Success in war depends not only on weapons and tactics but on leadership, courage, honor, and duty. These virtues allow men to overcome fear and endure the chaos of combat. On June 6, 1944, those virtues burned white-hot in a handful of men who refused to retreat.

U.S. Army historian S.L.A. Marshall wrote that “thousands of Americans were spilled onto Omaha Beach. The high ground was won by a handful of men who on that day burned with a flame bright beyond common understanding.”

That flame still burns.

We’ve seen it elsewhere throughout our history — at the Chosin Reservoir, in Hue, in Fallujah, and in Helmand Province. America continues to produce men willing to face death to protect others. We should thank God for that fact — and pray we remain a nation worthy of such sacrifice.

DEBUNKED: These are the 3 biggest LIES about Ukraine



Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy has made it crystal clear that he’s not letting Biden off easy.

McCarthy has directed his committee to open an impeachment inquiry into the president, claiming that “bank records show that nearly 20 million dollars in payments were directed to the Biden family members and associates through various shell companies.”

And, not surprisingly, a lot of that money is connected to the most talked-about Eastern European country in recent times: Ukraine.

While the media portray Ukraine as the innocent underdog, they completely ignore that the country was once plagued with corruption, elected a comedian as president, seemingly fixed its corruption problem overnight, and suddenly became the poster child for democracy.

Not only that, but a country that none of us used to think about and that has been heavily implicated in the Biden family’s crimes is now receiving all of our tax dollars.

“What if everything you’ve been told about Ukraine is a lie?” Glenn Beck asks.

“It’s not about democracy, it’s not about stopping future wars, and it is definitely not about helping our trustworthy allies in the Ukrainian government.”

According to Glenn, it’s not just that everything you’ve been told is a lie, it’s that this “is the biggest heist in all of human history.”

The first lie that we’ve been told is that we “have to save Ukraine for democracy. If they fail, democracy fails,” Glenn says. “But does Ukraine even care about democracy?”

Lie number two, Glenn says, is that “we have to stop Russia, right now,” which he claims is the “neocon battle cry.”

The third lie is that “the war is going great. The money we’re supplying is relatively small. It’s no big deal,” he adds. “All of these claims have been the basis for the war in Ukraine. It’s how they’re justifying the risk of nuclear war,” Glenn continues. “If I showed you just one of these was a lie, would you still support the war?”


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Macron and Putin agree that a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine crisis is needed after a weekend phone call



During a Sunday phone call, French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed for the need to find a diplomatic solution to the ongoing crisis on Ukraine’s border.

Reuters reported that the French and Russian foreign ministers will meet in the coming days to hold diplomatic talks and seek to hold a summit where Russia, Ukraine, and NATO allies establish a new European security order.

A statement from Macron’s office said that the two presidents discussed “the need to prioritize a diplomatic solution to the current crisis” and that “if conditions are met,” a diplomatic path will allow for the establishment of this new security order the New York Times reported.

The Kremlin, however, appears not to believe that Western leaders are seeking a diplomatic resolution. Shortly after Putin’s conversation with Macron, the Kremlin said that leaders of Western nations were pushing the Ukrainian government to pursue a “military solution” to the ongoing conflict.

Earlier this month, ABC News reported that the Kremlin wants guarantees from Western nations and NATO allies that Ukraine and other formerly Soviet nations will not join defense alliances that purposefully exclude Russia.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian government insisted that it does not plan to launch an offensive against the Russian-backed separatists in its eastern region despite Russian insistence to the contrary.

The French and Russian presidents agreed to resume diplomatic talks within the Normandy Format. The Normandy Format is a negotiating channel created a little less than a decade ago by France, Germany, Ukraine, and Russia to resolve a similar conflict when Russia attempted to annex Crimea in 2014.

The defense minister of the Russian-allied and Ukraine bordering nation of Belarus, announced that Russia’s military deployment in Belarus would be extended as the two nations continue their joint military exercises along the Belarusian-Ukrainian border.

Despite Russia’s insistence that they have no intention of pursuing an armed conflict, American leadership remains unconvinced. The United States continues to insist that it has intelligence indicating an imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine.

And, despite the increasingly menacing presence of Russian troops along Ukraine’s borders, Ukrainian national security officials believe that Russia is unlikely to pursue conventional means of warfare.

Oleksiy Danilov, President Zelenskyy’s top national security adviser, believes that Russia is most likely to pursue a series of intense cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns while increasing economic pressure to foster social discontent within Ukraine.

Amidst the chaos, Zelenskyy seeks to meet with Putin so that the two might reach a diplomatic solution between themselves.

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